SEMINAR PROGRAMME SEMESTER 2, 2016

Research Seminars in Classical Archaeology

Seminars are held on Tuesdays, 3.00-4.30, in the Boardroom of the Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia located on level four of the Madsen Building (on Eastern Avenue opposite the Carslaw Building). CCANESA is at the top of the stairs located directly in front of you when you enter the Madsen Building (i.e. one floor above the level of the main entrance to the building).

2 AugustKatia Sporn (DAI Athens), AAIA Visiting ProfessorAigina Kolonna. The Development of a Bronze Age Settlement into a Greek Sanctuary

Research Seminars in Near Eastern Archaeology

Welcome to a new edition of the Near Eastern Seminar Series for Semester 2, 2016. Seminars are held on Mondays in the Boardroom of the Centre for Classical and Near Eastern Studies of Australia located on Level Four of the Madsen Building on Eastern Avenue in the University of Sydney's Camperdown Campus. From this semester they will start at the later time of 4:15pm on Mondays unless otherwise noted; the time has been changed to accommodate faculty staff and encourage a wider audience.

All are welcome.

As of this semester, Ana Becerra will hand over the role of NESS co-ordinator to Michael Spate. If you wish to update your details for the mailing list or have information to circulate around NESS, please contact Michael by emailing him at mspa4004[at]uni.sydney.edu.auCCANESA and the Near Eastern archaeology community would like to thank Ana Becerra for her hard work and professionalism as NESS coordinator over the last three years and we welcome Michael to the role.

Monday 5 September - Honours Research Progress Seminars

Current Honours students will deliver a 20 minute presentation each on their Honours research. Each presentation will be followed by 5-10 minutes question time.

Tuesday 20 September: Dr Glenn J. Corbett, Associate Director of the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), JordanTitle: "Inscribing the Desert Torrents: What the Distribution of Thamudic Inscriptions Reveals about Life in the Arabian Desert"

Abstract: Thousands of Thamudic E (or Hismaic) inscriptions and rock drawings attest the once vibrant North Arabian culture that thrived in the Hisma Desert of southern Jordan and northwest Saudi Arabia more than 2,000 years ago. But what drew these ancient tribespeople to the mountain slopes and deep wadi interiors where we so often find their names, thoughts, and prayers carved into stone? A GIS-based study of the distribution of more than 800 Hismaic inscriptions from the Wadi Hafir of southern Jordan reveals that authors tended to carve their messages in exactly those places where torrential winter rains would drain, collect, and pool. This presentation, given in honor of the late University of Sydney professor William Jobling who first documented so many of the Hafir’s inscriptions, seeks to understand better the distribution of these artifacts in light of traditional Arabian uses and understandings of desert landscapes and hydrology as attested through archaeology, ethnography, and pre-Islamic poetry.

Dr Corbett is also presenting a public lecture for NEAF on Wednesday 21 September - details on the NEAF website

Monday 17 October: Dr Hayley Saul, University of Western Sydney"From prehistory to post-earthquake: archaeology and heritage research in a changing Nepal"

Since 2011 the Himalayan Exploration and Archaeological Research Team (HEART) has been actively investigating the early settlement of the Nepalese Himalayas and their role in trans-Himalayan exchange and mobility. This paper narrates the experiences and challenges of conducting fieldwork in a high altitude and seismically unstable landscape. Beginning with an exploration of the evidence for settlement and mobility within and across the Nepalese Himalayas, focusing on the period from 30 kya to the emergence of early states in the 1st millennium BC, the paper moves on to the preliminary (pre)historic findings discovered during fieldwork in the Annapurnas. Though very little archaeological fieldwork has been carried out in the Himalayas of Nepal, this paper reviews the tentative evidence for: 1) the movement of prehistoric exchange items, and; 2) settlement activity and exchange infrastructure. These narratives of mobility, cultural diversity and sophisticated relationships with the mountain environments always had relevance for Nepal’s emerging identity as a fledgling democratic state as it navigates complex ethic politics and a drive for development. But, following the 2015 earthquakes the role of heritage and archaeology research in Nepal’s development and earthquake recovery has changed, and the work of HEART continues to adapt with it. Using the most recent action research undertaken with the devastated village of Langtang, the paper concludes by observing the challenges ahead: participatory research in traumatic pasts, managing trust in community politics, and navigating the tension between cultural tradition and economic development.

Monday 7 November; Professor Song YiXiao (Central China Normal University)"The Prototype of Queen Mother of the West and its diffusion in the ancient civilization regions of the world"

Monday March 14Professor Ian Hodder, Stanford University - "Assembling Çatalhöyük: The Role of Interdisciplinary Science"

The Çatalhöyük Project in central Turkey involves 160 researchers working in 36 subdisciplines. This seminar will discuss the ways in which the team works across and between subdisciplines in order to assemble knowledge about this Neolithic site. Examples are provided of the building of robust hypotheses that nevertheless remain embedded in their process of assembling.

This seminar is free and open to all. RSVP would be appreciated for seating arrangements to Ana Becerra at abec6397@uni.sydney.edu.au

Monday 21 March Dr Melissa Kennedy (University of Sydney) - “Wadi Hammeh and the North Jordan Valley in the EB III-IV”

Monday 11 April Dr Bernadette Drabsch (University of Newcastle) - “Evolving Symbolism: Exploring Continuity and Change in Artistic Representation during the South Levantine Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages”

Classical ArchaeologyTuesday 10 March - Richard Green: Tragoidia/Goat-Song and the Naming of TragedyTuesday 24 March - Hugh Thomas: Droning On: UAV photography and 3D modelling at Zagora, Methone and the AgoraTuesday 14 April - Janice Crowley: The Eye, the Mind and the Hand: Seals, Signets and the Artistic Vision of the MinoansTuesday 28 April - Beatrice McLoughlin: The technological and visual characterization of thin-walled coarse wares from Zagora: potters, specialization and community needs on Andros in the eighth century B.C.Tuesday 5 May - Alba Mazza: Coastal landscape archaeology in Sicily: A new approach for study coastal cities and their palaeolandscapesTuesday 19 May - Brett Myers: Lucanian Fortified Centres - methodology, survey and some preliminary resultsTuesday 2 June - Tyler Jo Smith (University of Virginia): Questions and Answers: Athenian Black-Figure Pottery from Berezan in the State Hermitage Museum